Ministry Formations

Time 2021-10-31 12:08:26

Web Name: Ministry Formations

WebSite: http://biblicalministry2340.blogspot.com

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Ministry Formations

A College Student's Journey into the Heart of Ministry

Tuesday, November 27, 2012 How to Engage in a Loving DialogueI remember the school day after the 2008 election in which senator Barack Obama won and became president-elect. My seemingly 70% white school was upset. I wrote off a lot of the hateful speech directed at the president-elect as racially motivated and based on nothing more than ignorance. Then I saw many self-professed and active Christian students behaving in the same manner as non-Christians and I was a little angry, just a little bit. I thought to myself "How can these people act like this? Why are they being so hateful? Didn't that one guy go to our bible study last week?"

I was so confused on how it was possible that we could preach love and respect, but turn that sense of Christ-mindedness off whenever we don't like something. There is a huge chasm between proclaiming the principles that we are called to take up when we follow Christ, and well actually taking them up. William Temple says, " It is not my belief that we are utterly bad... [but] we are not wholly good, and that even our goodness is infected with self-centeredness." We are good only when it is convenient for us, but when we have nothing to lose why not be bad, why not turn a blind eye to the Christian principles which we preach?Posted byJorge Ariasat11:11 PMNo comments: Email ThisBlogThis!Share to TwitterShare to FacebookShare to PinterestGetting AheadMoney, success, and getting ahead. Coming from a lower-income family I grew up wishing that money was never a problem. In high school I decided that I would pursue a career that would make me a lot of money. Then I decided I wanted to be a pastor and oh how the world turned against me. A lot of people asked me how I would survive on that, how could I possibly make any money in that. "Jorge!", they would say, "You're a smart kid you could do something else!"

"The most effective poison to lead us to ruin is to boast in ourselves, in our own wisdom and willpower. The only escape to safety is simply to follow the guidance of the Lord." -- John Calvin

It took a lot of humility to pursue my decision to go to college to get a degree in Christian Studies. Even today, I'm still sometimes scared about what I'm doing. It seems as if everyday more and more studies come out demonstrating how hard it is for college graduates to get jobs and then I think to my education plan. It is when I feel like that, that it is most refreshing and calming to remember that I am not my own, I am the Lord's and He will do with me according to His good will. Posted byJorge Ariasat10:45 PMNo comments: Email ThisBlogThis!Share to TwitterShare to FacebookShare to Pinterest Wednesday, November 14, 2012 EvangelismThe last time I share the Gospel to someone was my senior year of high school. It was at an empty football field late at night and the person who I was talking to was smoking a cigar. I can't remember much about that experience except that eventually we both decided it was way too late to be out. I do remember that the whole conversation started with him asking me about God. He had his own theories about what God was, but he was curious as to what I thought. The fact he was open to what I had to say was probably the only reason I even talked to him about it. If you were to place us in another scenario it would be safe to say I wouldn't directly going into the sharing of the Gospel unless I was asked.

Watchman Nee says, "It is clear from the New Testament that the Lord Jesus came as a friend, in order to help sinners come to Him.". Evangelism cannot be surface-level. We have to develop friendships with those who society casts out. Christians get a bad rap for being judgmental and exclusive in their social circles, and I can assure you this is a pretty accurate critique of Christians. We have become rather exclusive for the sake of whatever cause we deem worthy, but we have to realize that the man we are attempting to model was inclusive of everyone, exclusive to none. Posted byJorge Ariasat8:03 AMNo comments: Email ThisBlogThis!Share to TwitterShare to FacebookShare to Pinterest Sunday, November 4, 2012 Praying the Scripture"Praying the Scripture is not judgedby how much you read but the way you read. If you readquickly, it will benefit you little" -- Madame Guyon

Whenever I read the Bible I tend to read it like I would any other book; without much attention to detail. I read to understand the main point. I want to read as much as I can as quickly as I can. However, by reading this devotional by Madame Guyon I've learned that reading Scripture for study is different than reading it for my spirit. If can study several books of the Bible, but if I am not taking time to read anything to build my relationship with God then it is all folly.

I read Ephesians 1 and was just hammered again and again by Paul's expression of God's grace. When you read this chapter fast you tend to not grasp the incredible sense of grace present in this chapter. Grace is such an amazing aspect of faith, the fact that our guilt and shame is easily and effectively covered by His grace.

Posted byJorge Ariasat6:23 PMNo comments: Email ThisBlogThis!Share to TwitterShare to FacebookShare to Pinterest Thursday, October 25, 2012 Biblical Conversion There's this huge misconception amongst struggling people who wish to come to the faith that before they join a church they have to clean themselves up. They have this mentality that they are not good enough to enter a church. They feel as if they have to quit vices that control their lives before they give their life at the altar. The bottom line is that they feel as if they have to purify themselves before they make a choice to be saved. In Ephesians chapter two the Apostle Paul tells us that it is by grace that we have been saved, through the gift of God that is salvation and not by our own works.

"Conversion is a gift and an achievement. It is the act of a moment and the work of a lifetime. You cannot attain salvation by disciplines -- is is the gift of God. But you cannot retain it without disciplines." -- E. Stanley Jones

Jones argues that salvation only comes from God Himself and that our works cannot produce salvation. He instead argues that works helps us retain our salvation and that without having spiritual disciplines at work in our lives we will not be able to accept the great gift of salvation. I think what Jones presents is perfectly Biblical and is at opposition with much of what is preached today by preachers who (with their best intentions and probably unwittingly) encourage the practice of works above the transcendence of faith. Posted byJorge Ariasat10:39 PMNo comments: Email ThisBlogThis!Share to TwitterShare to FacebookShare to Pinterest Monday, October 22, 2012 The Inner Sanctuary"As thou art in church or cell, that same frame of mind carry out into the world; into its turmoils and fitfulness." -- Meister Eckhart

It is entirely too easy to worship God in the context of church. It is easy to be in deep meditation over spiritual things when there are distractions. It is easy to flee from temptation when it is most convenient from you. However, these things become substantially difficult when they are mixed with the difficulties and distractions of the world.

Thomas Kelly says that a Christian "must above all be one who practices the perpetual return of the soul into the inner sanctuary, who brings the world into its Light and rejudges it, who brings the Light into the world with all its turmoil..." Kelly also teaches us how it is that we can keep this inner sanctuary as the primary mediator between our soul and the outside world.

"By quiet, persistent practice in turning all of our being, day and night in prayer and inward worship and surrender toward him who calls the deeps of our souls" By starting the day off meditating in our sanctuary and ending the day off by in quiet reflection we can train ourselves to present Godly character without giving it a second thought. Posted byJorge Ariasat10:56 PMNo comments: Email ThisBlogThis!Share to TwitterShare to FacebookShare to Pinterest Sunday, October 21, 2012 A Faith That MattersRecently I've come to realize that congruency in the private and public actions of a person is a symptom of a healthy life. That doesn't mean that you have to be perfect in public and private but rather that you are open and honest about your shortcomings publicly, and that your prayers in private reflect accordingly.

"Now if we conclude that we must be pious in our prayers, we must also conclude that we must be pious in all other aspects of our lives. For there is no reason why we should make God the rule and the measure of our prayers... and yet not make him the rule and measure of all other actions of our life." -- William Law

It's hard to apply this principle to all aspects of life. One of the things that makes it so hard is the fact that sometimes we don't know how to make God the rule and measure. Personally, I'm always bouncing back and forth from acting like a Puritan social dinosaur, and a contemporary Christian liberal. Sometimes I feel like God cares about the fact I listen to Avenged Sevenfold, and other times I think as long as I handle myself well I'll be fine. I try to have my faith have a say in all matters of my life, but sometimes I'm just a little scared that my faith would lead me against my desires. At the end of the day though I realize that it's never a bad idea to remove myself from things that are not God. Posted byJorge Ariasat11:22 PMNo comments: Email ThisBlogThis!Share to TwitterShare to FacebookShare to Pinterest Older PostsHomeSubscribe to:Posts (Atom)Blog Archive 2012(28) November(4)How to Engage in a Loving DialogueGetting AheadEvangelismPraying the Scripture October(8) September(11) August(5)About MeJorge AriasJust a chill dude writing about un-chill things. View my complete profile

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